


The Story of Us

by LVURV



Category: Hardersson - Fandom
Genre: Chelseawfc, F/F, Linkoping FC
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-20
Updated: 2021-01-20
Packaged: 2021-03-12 00:09:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28876212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LVURV/pseuds/LVURV
Summary: Pernille struggles with her newfound feelings for Magda, but in the end they figured out together and create their own story. It wasn't your typical love story but they were happy and in the end, that was all that mattered.
Relationships: Pernille Harder/Magdalena Eriksson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 24





	The Story of Us

*Pernille's POV*

It was the beginning of pre-season, the very first day actually. The very first day of her second season at Linköping. Just like most first days, this one consisted primarily of introductions, information about the upcoming season, and a light training session. With this being her second season at the club, Pernille was familiar with the facility, the coaches and the staff, and what the club stood for. She also knew the majority of the players already, yet she had noticed a few new faces. Of course, she had heard about the new signings but she still looked forward to officially meeting them and getting to know them better. At the end of the team meeting, the new players were introduced. Magdalena Eriksson was one of them that really stood out to Pernille. She looked a little shy but also radiated a sort of calmness. Pernille liked it.

After all of the formal stuff was out of the way, the team had lunch together and after that, at 2 o'clock, they would have their first light training. Lunch went by smoothly but Pernille hadn't been able to introduce herself to the new teammates yet. She decided she would just do that at the start of their training session. Who knows, maybe the team would get together in the evening and she could get to speak to them some more then.

Once lunch was over, most of the team decided to spend their 45 minutes of free time lounging around in their recreational room, but not Pernille. She liked going out onto the pitch a little earlier than the rest of them. She liked the few minutes of alone time, just her on the pitch with the ball at her feet. Usually, she would just do some kick-ups or some exercises to work on her technique. After their lunch, Pernille slowly made her way to their changing room to get ready for training and take her bit of alone time on the pitch.

To her surprise, she wasn't the first one out on the pitch today. Instead, she was met by Magdalena Eriksson juggling the ball in the middle of the field. She watched as the Swede kept perfect control of the ball while walking around the middle circle. When one of her touches was a little off the ball got away from her which ended her streak. Pernille took this as her cue to speak up. "Hey there.", she said. Magda seemed a bit startled as she turned around the see who had called out to her. "Oh hey, I'm sorry. I didn't think anyone would be out here yet.", she said, still a bit nervous. "That's alright. The rest won't be here for at least another 10 minutes. I just like to get some alone time on the pitch before training.", the Dane explained. Magda replied shyly. "Oh, uhm, yeah me too. Do you, uhm, want me to leave?" "No, of course not. The pitch is big enough for both of us, right." After that, a silence fell over the pair. Pernille was the first one to break it. "So, Magdalena was your name right?" "Yeah, but you can just call me Magda." And with that, the conversation was started. As predicted by Pernille, the first of their teammates started showing up almost 15 minutes after her arrival. In the time that they had on the pitch, Magda had told Pernille about her football history and how she had experienced her first day at the club. Pernille had listened to the blonde and decided that they would be good friends considering how much they already seemed to have in common.

*Magda's POV*

Her first day at the new club had been amazing, overwhelming, but amazing nonetheless. The intensity and level of the training session were high, higher than she was used to, but she loved it. She loved putting in the effort to get better and improve. After the long first day, a couple of teammates were making plans to grab some drinks to celebrate the beginning of the new season. Pernille had invited her and she had agreed almost instantly, hoping to get the chance to talk to her some more. So here she was, getting dressed up to meet her teammates at the bar. She had called her girlfriend as soon as she got home to talk about her first day at the new club. The pair had been together for almost two years now. They had met at a bar through a mutual friend and had hit it off almost immediately. Once they started talking, conversation flowed easily between them. They had ended their night with a sweet kiss and a promise to meet each other later that week. Their first date was followed by a second one and ever since that second date they were officially a couple.

On the phone, Magda had told her girlfriend all about her new teammates, how good the facilities were, how nice everyone was, how good the first training session was, how she had talked to Pernille before training while they were on the pitch together, ... She told her everything. After that, she listened to her girlfriend talk about her day at university and her plans for the rest of the week. They briefly discussed when they would get the opportunity to see each other in person again but that seemed like a difficult question considering the distance that was now between them. Of course, they had talked about this before Magda moved across the country but it proved to be harder than they thought. After the phone call, Magda finished getting ready and made her way to the bar to meet her teammates hoping it would take her mind off it for a bit.

*Pernille's POV*

Pernille always liked these kinds of get-togethers with teammates. They were the best opportunities to get to know each other and have some time for team bonding. Every now and again, they organized a bigger get together where partners could join them. It had been on one rare occasion that Pernille's boyfriend had been able to tag along. He still lived in Denmark and was making the most of building his career while his girlfriend did the same in Sweden. The distance was hard but their love for each other and semi-regular visits kept the pair together. They had known each other since pre-school and were best friends from the start. Once they started getting older their friendship slowly transformed into a relationship. It just felt like a natural evolution. Nonetheless, the distance was hard for the lifelong friends. They had survived their first year of long-distance but already seemed to find it a tad bit harder this year.

She quickly shook away her thoughts, got dressed, and got a cab to the bar. Most of the girls were already there when she arrived. She could also spot most of the new faces which was nice. She ordered herself a glass of white wine before joining the squad at the tables they were occupying. "Ah, there we have our goal-scoring machine, almost thought your boyfriend was keeping you too occupied to join us.", Jonna Andersson spoke up when she saw Pernille approaching the group. "Haha, very funny.", replied Pernille to brush away the subject of her boyfriend. She found herself an empty seat at the end of the table and tried to follow the conversations going on around her.

At some point, her and Magdalena's eyes had met from across the group. That latter had shot her a small smile before turning her attention back to the conversation next to her. The same thing happened a few times throughout the evening. When Magda had gotten up to get herself another drink, she returned with a beer and her chair in hand and placed it next to Pernille. "Hi", she spoke shyly. "Hey there, got tired of the other side?", Pernille joked. Magda gave her a snigger in confirmation before taking a sip of her beer. Just like it had done on the pitch, the conversation flowed easily between the two girls. Magda took this chance to ask Pernille some questions about the club, their style of football, and the teams they would be facing. The Dane loved every second of it. She loved talking about football and it was nice that she had found someone that loved it as much as she did.

*Magdalena's POV*

For her, that first night at the bar had been the start of a great friendship with Pernille. They often met each other at the pitch before the rest of the squad arrived to kick the ball around and talk about their matches and training sessions, other important football matches, their families, their relationships ... anything really. They had also started meeting up to watch football games together or just hang out together. Every now and again they would even get a ball and go to the local park to have their own little football sessions. When both were away with the national team they would keep each other updated about everything.

*time skip - Magda's POV*

She had been at Linköping for almost three months now and today they would be playing to the number one in the league. It was a big match and Magda had been nervous about it the whole week because not only would they be playing the number one, her whole family and her girlfriend had also made the trip to come see her play today. She and Pernille had been going over their game tactics the entire week, seeing what they would need to pay attention to during the game, who they would definitely need to cover during set pieces, what way to break through to defense of the opposition. It helped them to feel ready and get pumped up for the game.

As predicted, it had been a tough game that ended in a tie. She could tell it frustrated Pernille. The frown on her face was proof that the Dane was already going through the game in her head to find out where she could have been better. Magda walked up to her and put her hand on her shoulder. "We'll get them next time.", she spoke. Pernille looked at her and let out a sigh. "It's just frustrating. We had so many chances." "I know, you were great though. Better luck next time.", Magda said. After that Pernille pulled her into a short hug probably knowing that Magda was feeling the same way as her.

Next, she went over to the stands to finally greet her family. She quickly hugged her parents and sister before turning to her girlfriend who reached her hand out to tuck a strand of Magda's hair behind her ear. "You did great today.", she spoke proudly. The couple shared a soft kiss before Magda was getting sent to the changing room to get showered and changed.

As soon as she entered the changing room the attention was on her. "Damn Magda, your girlfriend is really beautiful.", said one of her teammates. Magda felt a blush creep up on her cheeks. The only response she could muster up was a shy smile and a nod. She really didn't like being in the spotlight like this. Pernille saw that and spoke up: "Come on guys, leave her alone." "Ah Pernille, we were just joking around. Sounds like you need to get your boyfriend to come visit so you can stop missing him." Pernille only laughed bitterly at the comment from Tove. The Dane seemed a little bit annoyed, maybe still frustrated at the game, thought Magda. Perhaps she could talk to her about it before their next training.

*Time skip - Pernille's POV*

As the season progressed, so did her friendship with Magda. The Swede had been at the club for almost six months now and by now they were practically attached at the hip. They had become bus buddies, held regular movie nights, spent most of their free time together, and had even met each other's families along the way. Safe to say they were pretty close by now.

They had just had an international break so Pernille had met up with the Danish national team and Magda went to the U23 camp. Usually, Pernille liked international breaks since it often gave her the chance to also spend a bit of time with her family and boyfriend. Though, this time it had been less pleasant. She and her boyfriend had spent her last day in Denmark just hanging out together before he dropped her off at the airport. Just before Pernille had to leave he had spoken up. "Pernille, I'm sorry but I think we need to break up." She couldn't say she hadn't seen it coming but she was surprised nonetheless. It took her a moment to find her words. "It's okay. I think you're right.", she whispered to him while tears gathered in her eyes. He told her that he didn't want to hold her back and that it probably was the right decision for him and Pernille only nodded her head. A look at the clock told her she really needed to go know so they shared a hug, told each other one last time that they loved each other, and then parted their ways.

As soon as she had gotten off the plane she had received a text from Magda, asking to get together to catch up. Magda had come over once Pernille arrived at her apartment and she couldn't be happier to see Magda. The latter had noticed something was off as soon as she walked through the door. Magda had waited until they were settled on the couch before asking her about it. Pernille told her about the breakup and how she was feeling and Magda just listened. At the end of her rambling, she was pulled into a hug that felt amazing. They spent the rest of the evening cuddled up on the couch, catching up and telling each other all about their time with the national team. If she was really honest, she had felt it then. That moment right there was when it all started. The comfort she felt in that moment was something she had never felt before and that comfort was the start of everything.

In the next couple of weeks, Magda and she grew even closer. By now they knew pretty much everything about each other, they had even picked up some of each other's habits. Yet, that feeling she felt when they were cuddled up on the couch hadn't left her mind. She was constantly trying to figure out what it meant. Was she happy to have found such a great friend or was it something more than that? Pernille had never had feelings for a girl before, so that couldn't be it, right?

Luckily for her, they had their last game of the season this weekend and after that, she would be going home to Denmark. Maybe she would feel better being at home with her family. And it did make her feel better, she felt at peace and wasn't thinking about those lingering thoughts all that much. Of course, she kept regular contact with Magda and had seen the pictures of her and her family, friends, and girlfriend. She always seemed a tad bit jealous when seeing Magda with her girlfriend but she pushed those feelings down.

*Magda's POV*

Soon enough the start of preseason came and we were back at the club. After a chill first day, she and Pernille had agreed to meet up at the Dane's apartment to have dinner together and properly catch up. After dinner, they had moved to the couch where they continued filling each other in on any interesting stories. The conversation was great until Pernille finally asked the question. She knew it was coming but she didn't expect for her reaction to still be this strong. Pernille had asked her about how her girlfriend was doing and she had pretty much lost it. Tears flowed down her cheeks without stop, she couldn't even properly answer the question. Pernille had quickly wrapped her into a hug and was whispering sweet nothings into her ear while rubbing her back. She couldn't deny, she felt a great sense of comfort coming from the Dane. Once she had calmed down a bit and had stopped crying she could finally answer the stupid question. "I'm sorry, it's just that we broke up and I guess I'm still a bit heartbroken about it." Pernille reached out to wipe a stray tear away. "You want to talk about it?", she asked. She then began telling the story about their fight about being apart too much and how her girlfriend had confessed that she had feelings for someone else. Pernille had listened to her going on about her break up while holding her hand and caressing it with her thumb.

*Pernille's POV*

Even though Magda's eyes were red from crying and her cheeks were red and tear-stained, she couldn't help but be taken aback by the Swede's pure beauty. Of course, she had known Magda was beautiful long before that moment, she wasn't blind, but right now she looked so breathtaking. These definitely weren't appropriate thoughts to have about someone who had just spilled her heart out like that so Pernille quickly pushed them down. She really needed to figure out what this was all about. The rest of the evening they spend wrapped up in each other's arms watching whatever was on the tv. It wasn't until the next morning they found out they had fallen asleep like that. Pernille couldn't lie, it was probably the best sleep she had had in a long time. They quickly got up and made their way to the club once they figured out they were almost going to be late for their training. After a quick stop at Magda's apartment, they made their way to the club, arriving just in time.

*Time skip*

Four months had passed since the start of the season and Pernille probably couldn't feel worse. It had been two months since she had stayed up all night trying to figure out what was going on in her head. She had just reached a point where she could no longer deny that she felt different towards Magda than towards the rest of her teammates. She had felt her own need to constantly be close to the Swede, she felt her heart flutter when they would touch, she felt her eyes landing on Magda way too often and she felt her mind go fuzzy whenever the Swede would laugh or talk or basically do anything. The thing is, she had figured out what she was feeling but she had no idea what to do with it and she was scared. Scared of how Magda would react, scared of how her teammates would react, scared of how her family would react, she was just so scared. So, she kept it in. She had decided then that she would keep her feelings to herself.

Now, they had just returned to Linköping after the winter break and this was the first time she would see Magda and talk to her apart from the few texts they had exchanged in the past weeks. To be honest, she wasn't really looking forward to this. She knew for a fact that Magda would instantly sense that something was up and she really wasn't in the mood to make up some bad lie to cover up how she was feeling. She had managed to avoid Magda before training by skipping her usual moment alone with her on the pitch. During the training, she always tried to put as much distance as possible between her and the Swede. Even when they were dismissed she quickly gathered her stuff and made her way to her car. She was almost at her car when a voice shouted her name. Lucky for her, it wasn't Magda but Tove, inviting her to join the rest of the team at the bar that evening. She just nodded and said she would think about it before going home.

*Magda's POV*

Pernille had been acting strange the whole day and even during their winter break, she knew that something was off. She had hoped to get to talk to her about it before training, but Pernille arrived just in time for training and not a minute earlier. Even after training, she had rushed off. She wasn't going to lie, Magda was worried. She sent Pernille a quick text telling her that she missed seeing her and asking if she was joining them at the bar that evening but unfortunately she got no reply. To be honest, it hurt her to think that Pernille didn't want to talk to her because Magda had spent most of her winter break thinking about the Dane. She had even brought her back a gift from home. As much as Magda had promised herself to never fall in love with a teammate, the talks with her sister had really helped her to see that it was too late for that. Of course, she realized that Pernille wasn't just any teammate, they were best friends, but apparently those feelings of friendship had turned into feelings of love somewhere down the line. Of course, Magda was professional enough to not act on it, she would just simply get over it. But that didn't make it easier to be in this situation where Pernille was ignoring her.

They had been at the bar for almost an hour now. Everyone was here, except for one person, Pernille. She had caught herself glancing at the door almost every minute, hoping the blonde would enter the bar but she had no luck. When she wasn't looking at the entrance of the bar, she would check her phone to see if she had missed any messages, but still no luck. Five minutes ago, she hadn't been able to handle it anymore and had sent a short text to the one person she wanted to see now. "Hey P, we're at the bar. Are you coming?" It was simple but she secretly hoped it would be enough to convince Pernille to join them.

And it worked. Almost another 45 minutes later, Pernille walked through the door. As soon as their eyes met a smile took over her face but she could see that something was wrong with Pernille. She looked tired and could only muster up a fake smile. She took a seat all the way across the table and even that was strange considering they had made a habit out of sitting next to each other. Pernille had ordered herself a beer but hadn't drunk a sip, she was just twirling her glass around. Every now and again their eyes would meet and she would simply smile but she didn't get a smile back, at least not a real one. In her mind, she went over the past couple of weeks, trying to figure out if she had done anything to upset the Dane but she came up empty.

Magda decided to send Pernille a text, maybe she would respond to her like that. "Are you okay?" Almost instantly she saw Pernille's phone, which was lying in front of her on the table, light up. Pernille looked at the notification but instead of answering she just put her phone in sleep mode before going back to twirling her glass around. By now, Magda was properly shocked and apparently it showed. "Maybe you should talk to her." Frido, who Magda had known from the U-camps of the national team, said to her. "I've been trying to, but she's been ignoring me.", replied Magda clearly a bit annoyed. Frido was the only person who knew of her crush on Pernille but she really didn't want to talk about it now. They just left it at that, not wanting to ruin the mood but Magda was still annoyed and even a bit hurt.

*Pernille's POV*

Magda's text had convinced me to join the team at the bar but before she had even entered it, she realized that coming had been a mistake. But, it was too late to turn back now so she gathered all of her courage and walked through the door. She tried to keep her distance from Magda by sitting all the way across the table but yet her eyes kept wandering to the Swede, she just couldn't help it. More than once Magda happened to be looking back at her and Pernille quickly diverted her eyes. Eventually, Magda had sent the Dane a text and instead of answering, she just left it unread. She wanted so badly to just reply to Magda and talk to her about it, surely they talked about anything, but she couldn't talk to her about this. And that hurt. She knew that Magda would be mad at her for not replying and for ignoring her, but still, it was the easier thing to do.

All throughout the evening, Pernille was sat in her chair with her thoughts running through her mind like a storm that nothing could escape from. She was feeling. She couldn't really tell exactly how she was feeling because of the mix of emotions but she was definitely feeling. She felt sad. She felt frustrated. She felt angry. She felt hopeless. She felt estranged. But worst of all, she felt alone. Even with all of her teammates around her, she felt alone. Just at that moment, once again, her eyes met the pair of green eyes across the table. This time, she didn't quickly turn away but she kept looking at those beautiful eyes. She felt frozen, like she just couldn't look away. Magda also didn't try to break eye contact so they just kept looking at each other from across the table.

Then, it all came crashing down on her. Pernille felt her eyes well up. She felt her muscles tense and her breathing become heavy. It all became too much. She stood up abruptly, muttered an excuse, and made her way out of the bar. Outside she walked into the alley next to the bar and leaned her forehead against the wall. With her eyes closed, she tried to regain control over her breathing. Softly she breathed in, held her breath for a minute before releasing the air again. A tear made its way down her cheek. She hated that she was feeling this way. She also hated knowing that there was no possibility of explaining this to her teammates. She knew they would be worried and would have questions but she just didn't want to face them. Once she had gathered her breathing, she let herself slide down against the wall until she was sitting on the dirty ground in the alley. Out of misery, she put her head in her hands and just stayed there on the ground. How would she ever explain this?

She heard footsteps approaching her but couldn't muster up the courage to look at the person, knowing exactly who it was. "I brought you your coat. Can't have you catching a cold.", spoke Magda. How could she be so nice when Pernille was treating her like this? Slowly but surely she stood up, put on the coat before leaning back against the wall with her eyes looking up at the dark sky. Another tear ran across her cheek. She quickly reached up to wipe it away. She felt Magda coming over and leaning next to her against the wall but neither of them spoke.

It took Magda five minutes to break the silence. "Are you okay?" Pernille kind of thought it was a stupid question but at least she tried. "I'll be okay.", she replied shortly but Magda clearly wasn't convinced. "You can talk to me about it, you know." Pernille let out a short bitter laugh before pushing herself off the wall "I really can't." Magda didn't stop pressing: "Why not? We talk about everything." "Yeah well, I can't talk to you about this." Pernille was clearly getting annoyed and she could tell that Magda was feeling the same. "Why are you so fucking stubborn sometimes. Just tell me what's going on, I want to help you. You're clearly not okay and I'm worried about you.", Magda spoke again, this time with a raised voice. "I'm not being stubborn, Magda. I just can't talk to you about this." The Swede just huffed in response before letting herself fall back against the wall while the Dane kept pacing around. A silence fell over the pair again. Both were dealing with their own train of thoughts.

Another ten minutes had passed before Magda tried to reason with Pernille again. "Pernille, you're like my best friend and I'm worried about you. I can see that something is going on and I want to help you, just talk to me." This set off something inside of her. Suddenly all of the rage she had been feeling reached a peak and she started shouting. "Fuck you, Magda. There's a lot going on in my head right now and I don't need you to add to it. So can you just back off." She just felt so incredibly mad and frustrated but that didn't seem to scare Magda off. Magda took a deep breath before speaking up again. "You don't need to carry this on your own, I can help you. Just trust me. " Then, without thinking, Pernille started to talk... well, more like yell. "No Magda, I do need to carry this on my own, because you're the person I talk to about everything but I just can't talk to you about this. I mean, how could I. How could I talk to you about how I like you? It's scary. Suddenly I have all of these feelings for you, a girl, and I don't know how to deal with it and I can't even talk to you about it. And I keep trying to keep my distance from you and you just keep on being nice and trying to talk to me and make me feel better. I just don't know what to do anymore." This was probably the most honest she had been with anyone ever.

At first, she let out a sigh of relief before realizing what she had said. Her eyes widened in shock before turning to look at Magda, scared of what her reaction might be. When Magda didn't respond immediately, Pernille quickly started talking again to cover up the words that had just spilled out of her mouth. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to tell you that. Just forget I ever said anything. We don't have to-..." She was cut short by Magda taking one of her hands into her own. Pernille lifted her gaze up to look into Magda's eyes. She had expected a look of shock, a look of anger, or maybe even a look of disgust. Instead, she was met with a soft look, one reassuring her that everything would be okay and that she didn't have to worry. She was taken aback by it but also scared. What did this look mean? She pulled her hand away from Magda's and let herself slide down the wall again. Magda followed her and sat in front of her on the ground but neither of them spoke.

This time, it was Pernille who broke the silence. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you." She followed it up with "Can we just forget about this and go back to normal?" It came out rather quiet and insecure, nothing like how she would usually speak. It took Magda a couple of minutes to respond. When Pernille looked at her, she seemed deep in thought. Her brows were furrowed, her eyes were staring at the wall and hands were fidgeting. As the Swede looked up, her eyes immediately met Pernille's. "Pernille, I don't think I want to go back to normal. I don't think I can unhear what you just said." This statement was followed by a small sigh but also by the appearance of a small smile. "I like you too.", it was a simple phrase but it was life-changing for Pernille. Her eyes widened in shock and she too smiled a small smile. "Are you sure?", she asked insecurely and Magda nodded. A weight fell from her shoulders but many questions arose. "So, what do we do now?" "We don't have to do anything. We can just stay here for a minute or go back inside. We can talk about it some more today or we can leave it for another time. It is all up to us." Pernille nodded and weighed her options for a bit before saying it was probably the best thing to head back inside. As the pair stood up and dusted off their clothes Pernille spoke up again. "Thank you." Magda just smiled at her.

*Magda's POV*

After the talk we had outside, we went back into the bar and took our places at the table. I saw Pernille reassuring some teammates that she was fine and just needed some air. She looked like she was doing better, she looked lighter, like she wasn't carrying this burden anymore. Magda felt Frido lean into me and whisper: "Everything okay?" She nodded curtly before replying. "Maybe not 100% okay, but better at least." She realized they still had some talking to do but this was a start and a big step for Pernille. Now that they had taken this step, the rest would come, it would just need some time. Luckily for them, they knew they would find some. And they did. The next day, after training, they got together to talk about the revelations from the previous day. They decided that taking it step by step would be the best thing for them, so that is what they did. They went on a few dates, kept talking to each other about how they were feeling, and slowly built their newfound relationship. In time, they let the team in on their secret romance, eventually, they also told their families. In the end, they were kind of proud of their story. It wasn't your typical love story but they were happy and in the end, that was all that mattered.


End file.
